The Atrix 4G was one of a few lucky devices tapped to receive the Android 4 upgrade in the third quarter of this year. However, the quarter has come and gone, and Motorola seems to think there's no point in pushing its luck with the older Atrix 4G; the phone, released in first quarter of 2011, will remain in Gingerbread-land.

Two years seems to be the danger zone for Android upgrade viability in the eyes of manufacturers. When the roadmap was first laid out, Motorola shut out several phones which would turn two years old just as ICS updates started to roll out, including the Droid 2 and Droid X, released in the summer of 2010.

Motorola's lack of follow-through reflects poorly on Google's rapidly fading promises that it will get its software updates under control. This broken promise is particularly dismaying since Motorola is now Google's own house brand, albeit one held at arm's length. We'll have to keep taking Motorola's (and everyone else's) device upgrade schedules with a big fat grain of salt.

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Good thing you can take matters into your own hands and load a custom rom if you're an Android user.

Not for most users of the Atrix and Photon. Shortly before pushing back the promise of ICS from 3rd quarter to 4th quarter, Motorola pushed an "update" to these phones that locked the bootloader. Anyone who accepted that update (and you were reminded every 4 hours that you needed to download this important update) is now unable to load custom ROMs.

Let me reiterate the timeline:ICS announcedMotorola says these phones will get an upgrade to ICS in the 3rd quarter.3rd quarter approachesMotorola locks the bootloader so users can't load custom ROMsMotorola says, "oops, no upgrade until 4th quarter"Come 4th quarterMotorola says, "sorry, the past is the past, and you won't be getting an upgrade on that old phone."

As a photon owner and an ex Pre owner, I'm pretty discouraged about the smart phone marketplace.

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Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston

It seems that with handsets, you had better be happy with the OS version it ships with, because more likely than not that's the OS that will be on the phone until the day it dies (unless you put on a custom ROM that is).

Good job Motorola, I was hoping Google ownership would push you in the right direction. The RAZR M was on my shortlist to replace my aging Galaxy S (i9000) but it doesn't look like you can keep your word.

Back on the hunt for a good 4" phone that doesn't have neutered hardware.

The Motorola Photon and the Motorola Electrify won't be getting the update either. They were also in the promised 'fourth quarter 2012' release. I am very disappointed. I thought for sure that with Google buying Motorola we would see regular software updates. iOS continues to hold a huge advantage over Android in this regard.

It seems that with handsets, you had better be happy with the OS version it ships with, because more likely than not that's the OS that will be on the phone until the day it dies (unless you put on a custom ROM that is).

This assumption is valid for just about anything where there is no continuing revenue stream. Whether it be a handset or a TV - judge it base upon what it can do now, not what a future upgrade might bring. The manufacturer has your money - there's no profit in spending additional effort on it for your benefit.

Android handset makers and carriers need to be grilled whenever this happens. It's due to a short term mentality, where Android makers just want to invest in the next big hit phone and don't give a shit about their older phones, but in the long run it drives users away from Android. It's hands down the worst thing about Android and it has to stop.

It seems that with handsets, you had better be happy with the OS version it ships with, because more likely than not that's the OS that will be on the phone until the day it dies (unless you put on a custom ROM that is).

This assumption is valid for just about anything where there is no continuing revenue stream. Whether it be a handset or a TV - judge it base upon what it can do now, not what a future upgrade might bring. The manufacturer has your money - there's no profit in spending additional effort on it for your benefit.

Except return business. I own an Atrix 2 - Motorola will not be getting my future business.

Good thing you can take matters into your own hands and load a custom rom if you're an Android user.

So as an Android user you get to choose between a phone with a warranty and a phone with up to date software?

I don't know what the Motorola warranty period is, but I know with Samsung it's a year. If you bought the phone in the back half of 2011 then I feel bad for you.

However, that's not really the point.

Iphone 4 users will apparently not be getting access to Siri, for example. (without a 4s identification donor, anyway) Anyone that wants to upgrade an old Android phone and has a bit of gumption can do it and get the latest features.

Like I said, I'd rather Google lay down the law and start issuing more updates, but it's not the same problem old iphone users have where they'll get updated software that doesn't actually update the features.

I am not a big fan of Apple, but I have to give them props for their industry-leading support of legacy hardware. Granted, even they are not perfect, but going with Android hardware is a big gamble if software upgrades are important to you.

2y seam to be compromise carriers and OEMs can swallow. MS is claiming 18m of guaranteed support too. There are many walid reasons why carriers and OEMs do not want to upgrade software.

Sad that primary reason is that Google do not stick to open source drivers.

Its easy to port new Android to old phone. Just compile it. But to make use of hardware is hard. And every company out there think that drivers are secret sausage that keeps them in business.

If the development process for Android kernel whas fully open all the time, and same was true for drivers, at least we would have some of the devices alive thx to geeks who have them and could port drivers.

Waiting for OEM to release binaries for given version of Android is not fun.

At least there is the option of custom ROMs on Android... I mean, what's wrong with them not offering the latest version? Yes, it's a hassle, but I'd take user modifications on Android over Apple's support anyday.

It seems that with handsets, you had better be happy with the OS version it ships with, because more likely than not that's the OS that will be on the phone until the day it dies (unless you put on a custom ROM that is).

This assumption is valid for just about anything where there is no continuing revenue stream. Whether it be a handset or a TV - judge it base upon what it can do now, not what a future upgrade might bring. The manufacturer has your money - there's no profit in spending additional effort on it for your benefit.

Sadly, it's also probably worthwhile. I'd guess that the number of people ticked off by this move is still a smaller revenue stream than users who want the latest-and-greatest. Certainly, a part of that is due to the sheer number of Android phones that manufacturers put out. Perhaps manufacturers have determined it to be a worthwhile risk to alienate some customers by continuing to focus primarily on the new hotness and making more sales. It's not a business model that I'm willing or financially able to support in order to have an up-to-date phone (in terms of security and bug fixes).

However, I do expect is that a one-year-old phone on a two-year contract will receive updates for the period of time I'm on contract. It also kicks sand right in the face of Google's encouragement that Android devices get updates for up to 18 months. (Yes, I know that policy is effectively dead now. It was not at the time I bought the Photon.)

I've reached the point of feeling tired of being a beta tester for Google for a device on which I pretty heavily rely.

I will be dumping the Photon (and the plan with Sprint and eating the ETF). (Not solely because of Motorola's decision. But it was the final straw.) And it has chilled my interest in any future Android phones (including the vaunted Nexus line).

It seems that with handsets, you had better be happy with the OS version it ships with, because more likely than not that's the OS that will be on the phone until the day it dies (unless you put on a custom ROM that is).

And, aside from a small and noisy segment of the Universe, that's the way it will always be. MOST people don't care, don't know and don't know to care. Even with OS X where Apple whines at you to upgrade, lots of people don't.

And it isn't the end of the world. If you're sophisticated enough to know want a particular application that needs a certain platform you either spend the time to figure it out or you buy a new device. If you're happy with the feature set you bought the phone with, you're happy.

Good in a very narrow definition of the word, perhaps. Bad in every other sense that without widespread adoption of ICS, the entire software ecosystem of Android suffers.

Most phones aren't used much past the 2 year contract period, so there really is a big diminishing returns issue with an old phone like this.

I really don't understand why Google is allowing Motorola to keep being so consumer hostile though. I would have thought they at least would have given them some pretty strict mandates, even if they don't want to take direct control.

Good thing you can take matters into your own hands and load a custom rom if you're an Android user.

Not for most users of the Atrix and Photon. Shortly before pushing back the promise of ICS from 3rd quarter to 4th quarter, Motorola pushed an "update" to these phones that locked the bootloader. Anyone who accepted that update (and you were reminded every 4 hours that you needed to download this important update) is now unable to load custom ROMs.

Let me reiterate the timeline:ICS announcedMotorola says these phones will get an upgrade to ICS in the 3rd quarter.3rd quarter approachesMotorola locks the bootloader so users can't load custom ROMsMotorola says, "oops, no upgrade until 4th quarter"Come 4th quarterMotorola says, "sorry, the past is the past, and you won't be getting an upgrade on that old phone."

As a photon owner and an ex Pre owner, I'm pretty discouraged about the smart phone marketplace.

Which is better, sticking with 2.3 and a functional phone or moving to 4.x, leaving your phone significantly less usable. My <2yo HTC Sensation 4G was updated to ICS and it runs like a complete dog now. Wish I never took the upgrade. Literally, I can choose an application or function and it is not unusual for the screen to timeout before the operation is complete (e.g., switching from one application to another). Pathetic doesn't even begin to describe the experience. FYI--sleep is currently set to 45s.

So this device was released betwwen Feb 2011 and May 2011 - and ICS came out in October 2011 - but none of them will run it.

The list just keeps growing as to why I like the android eco-system less and less.

(my iPhone 3G came out in July 2008 - and I upgraded it to iOS 3.x nearly a year later - and upgraded it again to iOS 4.x a year after that)

Casey Johnston wrote:

Two years seems to be the danger zone for Android upgrade viability in the eyes of manufacturers.

How does February 2011 (atrix 4g release date) fit into your 2 year mark ?

8 month difference between the phone release and the OS release - your math doesn't make sense. We're still 5 months out from the 2 year mark for the the phone anyway. That is just pure laziness on Moto's part - bad management and stalling because of the the merger w/ Google.

Quote:

This broken promise is particularly dismaying since Motorola is now Google's own house brand

And you cannot fault Google for this - seeing as how they just bought the company in Feb of this year. Are you really expecting Google to have the capability to fully consolidate a $12 billion company into itself in 7 months - Really ?

And, aside from a small and noisy segment of the Universe, that's the way it will always be. MOST people don't care, don't know and don't know to care. Even with OS X where Apple whines at you to upgrade, lots of people don't.

Bull. Cell phone upgrades are nearly transparent and then users get bug fixes, new features, better performance, etc. Users notice and appreciate these things. They go out and buy new smart phones, despite having functional ones, because they want the latest features. So to get the software features automatically is definitely something they care about.

Most users with phones still on Gingerbread are out of their warranty period anyway (though granted you could cherry pick some exceptions from a minority of them), so I don't think that's a really strong point against them looking to put a custom rom on their phone. If their warranty period is over, they have nothing left to lose, unless they brick their phone. However, and I think I can say this with fairness, most people who have never owned anything other than an iPhone, or even if they have owned Android phones, most people who have never actually installed a custom rom themselves probably don't realize that the odds of permanently bricking your phone beyond recovery is actually *extremely* unlikely. It's very, very safe, if you just read the instructions and don't make assumptions. I think anyone looking to do this for their first time would tend to read the instructions very carefully while proceeding, worrying about something going wrong. I've been there myself, and now it's no sweat since I've become used to flashing new roms frequently.

At least the option is there. Sure, it would be great if official updates just came OTA in a reasonable time frame from the manufacturers, but for those phone users who are having no such luck, at least there is a choice at all. iOS comes out with a new version about once a year. And even then, waiting time aside for new features, older iPhone models almost never get the newest "big" features, even though they have proven to be capable of running them if jailbroken. This is because Apple wants to sell you a new phone. Sure, these manufacturers are holding back Android updates for the same reasons, but at least there's a way around it, much like how you could jailbreak your iPhone.

If Apple users are mostly okay with the idea of jailbreaking their iPhones, then why would they think that it's a mark against Android if people are able to basically do the same thing by flashing a custom rom? That shows no sense or reason behind their thoughts on the subject. Just bias.

Iphone 4 users will apparently not be getting access to Siri, for example. (without a 4s identification donor, anyway) Anyone that wants to upgrade an old Android phone and has a bit of gumption can do it and get the latest features.

Like I said, I'd rather Google lay down the law and start issuing more updates, but it's not the same problem old iphone users have where they'll get updated software that doesn't actually update the features.

Software updates are more than just features, you know. Security updates, software optimizations, and bug fixes come to mind.

This has been problem with android device and as a app developer for mobile devices it becomes incredibly frustrating to deal with this as well as so many different screen sizes. While it is "fun" to root the device and hack it around, it just is a pain if you are just trying to get your "smart" phone to catchup to latest support out there. For example, HTTP live streaming support is in Android 3.0 onwards and all these are stuck at 2.3...

Like I said, I'd rather Google lay down the law and start issuing more updates, but it's not the same problem old iphone users have where they'll get updated software that doesn't actually update the features.

Let me start off by saying that even though Apple does restrict certain features (like Siri, turn-by-turn navigation, panorama, FaceTime over cellular, etc.) on older devices as an incentive to make you think about upgrading, they are still adding other things in that did not previously exist on the older devices. However, the ability to get OS updates is not strictly about adding new features. Patching serious security holes is also a major reason to update and is not a valid reason to have to buy a new phone because the handset manufacturer doesn't see "additional revenue" to justify doing so.